Shares of Marvell Technology plunged Wednesday after the company was hit with a $1.17 billion verdict in a patent case. A jury in Pennsylvania found that Marvell had infringed patents held by Carnegie Mellon University. Worse yet for Marvell, the jury found that the semiconductor company’s conduct was willful, which could allow the judge in the case to impose damages that are three times the jury’s verdict.
A squabble with a French designer that kept the late Steve Jobs’ new yacht anchored in Amsterdam has been resolved for an undisclosed sum. After a sentimental launching in October, with Jobs family members and the vessel’s French designer Phillipe Starck looking on, Starck claimed he’d been underpaid by about $4 million for his work on the Venus.
The day after Christmas — traditionally a frenzied day of deal-seeking shoppers dashing from store to store, mall to mall — had a subdued beginning, but retailers trying to make up ground lost during the sluggish holiday shopping season rolled out big discounts that eventually dragged out Bay Area shoppers.
